Article of repose for supporting the body of a person



Jan. 19, 1960 A, LQRENZ 2,921,624

ARTICLE 0? REPOSE FOR SUPPORTING THE BODY OF A mason Filed Nov. 26. 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 JNVENTOR. OrrFon Lure/12' I26 mob :44 I46 no 450 Jan. 19, 1960 A. LORENZ ARTICLE OF REPOSE FOR SUPPORTING THE BODY OF A PERSON Filed Nov. 26, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 $[8 5150b 1544 362 5IO 346 INVENTOR. 0 1 077 Lorenz Harvey United States atent O ARTICLE OF REPOSE FOR SUPPORTING THE BODY OF A PERSON Anton Lorenz, Boynton Beach, Fla.

Application November 26, 1954, Serial No. 471,200

9 Claims. (Cl. 155-106) This invention relates to articles of furniture and more particularly to articles of repose for supporting the body of a person, wherein a structure comprising a seat and a back-rest rigidly connected with each other is movable from a sitting position into a reclined or tilted position and vice versa.

An object of the present invention is to provide an article of repose which may be readily manufactured at low costs.

Another object of the present invention is to improve on the art of articles of repose as now ordinarily made.

Other objects and structural details of the invention will be apparent from the following description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of an arm chair according to the present invention, a portion of a side frame of said chair being broken away,

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view similar to that shown in Fig. 1, wherein, however, the movable elements of the chair are in a position of repose,

Fig. 3 is a side elevational view of another embodiment of an arm chair according to the present invention, a portion of a side frame of the chair being broken away, and

Fig. 4 is a side elevational view of still another embodiment of an arm chair according to the invention, a portion of a side frame being broken away.

Referring now to Fig. l, the numeral generally indicates a support having sides 12 and 14 and supporting legs 16. A body supporting unit 18, having a back-rest 20 and a seat 22 is rockably mounted between the sides 12 and 14 of the supports 10 at 24.

The seat 22 and the back-rest 20 are formed as an integral unit and as such the unit 18, being mounted at 24, rocks about the mounting between an upright or sitting position as shown in full lines, and a reclining position as shown by the dash lines.

As the unit 18 rocks about its mounting 24 a leg-rest 26 is moved to and from a leg supporting position, also shown in dash lines. The leg-rest 26 is projected to its leg supporting position in response to the rocking move ment of the body supporting unit 18 by the operation of a bell-crank system generally identified by the numeral 28.

The bell-crank system 28 includes a first bell-crank lever 30 rockably mounted on the support 10 at 32. An arm 30a of the lever 30 is normally in engagement with the back portion of the unit 18 known as an actuator and identified by the numeral 34. The other arm 30b of the lever 30 cooperates with a second bell-crank lever 38. The second bell-crank lever 38 is rockably mounted on the support 10 at 40. The upper arm of the bell-crank lever 38 contains a slot 41 in which rides a pin 42 which is fixed to the second arm 30b of the bell-crank lever 30. The pin and slot connection 41, 42 provide for a lost-motion movement between the two bell-crank levers 30 and 38 of the bell-crank system 28.

The lower arm of the lever 38 is pivotally connected 2,921,624 Patented Jan. 19, 1960 with an end of a controlling link 44 which pivotally links the lever 38 with a front link 46. The front link 46 is mounted on the support 10 at 48 for pivoting movement and is linked at its other end by a connecting link 50 with a pivotal connection 52 on the leg-rest 26.

A second front link 54 is pivotally connected at its one end to the end of the seat 22 and at its other end to a connecting link 56. The connecting link 56 links the lower end of the second front link 54 with a second pivotal connection 58 on the leg-rest 26. The second front link 54 is pivoted with the connecting link 50 intermediate their respective ends and is thereby linked to the first pivotal connection 52.

It will be noted in Fig. 1 that the leg-rest 26, when in the non-leg-supporting position, is accommodated within a cut-out provided at the forward end of the seat 22 to provide a flush front therewith.

Limit means in the form of stop members 60 and 62 limit the extent of the rocking movement of the unit 18 by engaging with the under portion of the seat 22 when the same is in the sitting or upright position or by engaging as at 62, with the upper arm of the bell-crank lever 30 when the unit 18 is in the reclining position.

Because the engagement between the arm 30a of the bell-crank lever 30 and the actuating portion 34 of the unit is a sliding one and not a positive one, the leg-rest 26 is able to be extended to a leg supporting position without at the same time moving the unit 18 to a reclining position. It will be recognized that the linkage arrangement which actuates the leg-rest 26 in response to the rocking movement of the unit 18 does not in any way interfere with the movement of the leg-rest to its leg supporting position when the unit 18 is either in its upright or in a reclining position.

When it is desired to retain the unit 18 in its upright position, but at the same time provide the same with an extended leg-rest approximating that shown in the dash lines in Fig. 1, it is merely necessary to grip the leg-rest and manually pull it upwardly to the desired height. In such a case the arm 30a is disengaged from the actuator 34 and means, not shown, may be provided on certain of the links connected to the leg-rest 26 to retain them and the leg-rest in their extended position. Such a means could be in the form of friction washers or a friction brake provided at any of the joining or pivotal points of the links.

To return the leg-rest 26 to its inactive position as shown in full lines, it is merely necessary to push on the same sufficiently to overcome the aforementioned friction applied to the links.

To rock the unit 18 to its reclining position the occupant thereof need only lean heavily on the back-rest 20 to cause the same to rock about its mounting 24. As the unit 18 rocks toward its reclining position the actuator portion 34 engages and urges the arm 30a of the bellcrank lever 30 downwardly toward the stop 62. This in turn will rock the bell-crank lever 30 about its mounting 32 to cause the pin 42 to move in the slot 41 provided in the second bell-crank lever 38.

In turn the second bell-crank lever 38 will rock about its mounting 40 to extend the link 44 to pivot the front link 46 about its mounting 48. This serves to extend the leg-rest 26 by pivoting the connecting link 50 relative to its pivotal connection 52 and relative to the second front link '54. The extent to which the unit 18 will recline is limited by the engagement made by the arm 30:: of the lever 30 with the stop 62.

When the unit 18 is rocked from the reclining to the upright position the under portion of the seat 22 engages with the limit means 60 thereby to limit the extent of the rocking movement of the unit. However, the extended leg supporting position of the leg-rest 26 will not be disturbed, and in order to withdraw the leg-rest from its extended position it will be necessary to apply a force thereto sufficient to overcome the aforementioned friction applied to the links.

In the embodiment shown in Fig. 2 the parts which are similar to those shown in Fig. l are similarly numbered except, however, that the numbers are preceded by the numeral 1. In the instant embodiment the body supporting unit 118 including the back-rest 120 and the seat 122 is rockably mounted at 124 on the support generally identified by the numeral 110.

The body supporting unit rocks about the mounting 124 between an upright or sitting position shown in full lines and a reclining position shown in dash lines. The rocking movement of the unit 118 is transmitted byway of a bellcrank system 128 to project a leg-rest 126 to and from a leg supporting position also shown in dash lines.

The bell-crank system 128 includes a bell-crank lever 130 which is mounted intermediate its ends at 132 for rocking movement on the support 110. An upper arm 130a slidingly engages with an actuator 134 which extends downwardly from the unit 118. The other arm 13012 of the bell-crank 130 pivotally engages at its lower end with a controlling link 144 while the other end of the controlling link 144 links the bell-crank 130 with a front link 146.

The controlling link 144 is pivotally connected with the front link 146 intermediate the ends thereof while the front link 146 is pivoted at its one end 148 on the support 110. The other end of the front link 146 is interconnected with a pivotal connection 152 by a connecting 150. A second front link 154 is pivotally mounted at its one end on the support 110 and is connected at its other end by a connecting link 156 to a second pivotal connection 158 of the leg-rest 126.

Both of the front links 146 and 154 are connected with the first mentioned pivotal connection 152 by the connecting link 150 which is pivotally interconnected with the front link 154 intermediate their respective ends.

Limit means, including a limiting member 160, cooperates with the under side of the seat 122 to limit the extent of movement of the unit 118 when the same is rocked into its upright position. The limit member 160 also cooperates with the front link 146 to limit the extent of movement to which the unit 118 will recline and to which the leg-rest 126 will be projected into its leg supporting position.

It will be recognized that in the above described arrangement of structure the leg-rest 126 may be extended into its leg supporting position without at the same time reclining the unit 118. This may be accomplished by grasping the leg-rest 126 and by manually pulling it upwardly into any desired position.

In order to retain the leg-rest 126 in its extended position when it is operated without reclining the unit 118, a friction or other restraining means may be applied between the connections of any of the above mentioned links which control the operation of the leg-rest, thereby to restrain and retain the leg-rest in position. When, however, it is desired to move the leg-rest 126 from its extended and into its inactive position, it is merely necessary to exert a force on the same suflioient to overcome the above described friction or restraining force.

The leg-rest 126 is also projectable into its extended leg-supporting position by rocking the unit 118 about its mounting 124 into its reclined position. The rocking movement of the unit 118 is transmitted to the bell-crank system 128 by the actuator 134 which slidably engages the arm 130a. The bellcrank lever 130 is then caused to rock about its mounting 132 to extend the controlling link 144 which in turn pivots the front link 146. The front link 146 being linked to the leg rest 126 and to the second front link 154 by way of the connecting link 150, causes the front link 154 to pivot and the leg-rest 126 to be projected into its leg-supporting position. The extent of the rocking movement of the unit 118 and of the extension of the leg-rest 126 is limited by the engagement of the front link 146 with the limit member 160.

The unit 118 may be rocked from its reclining position into its upright or sitting position without disturbing the leg-rest 126, but if it is desired to remove the legrest from its extended to its inactive position while the unit 118 is rocked to its upright position it will only be necessary to apply a force on the leg-rest 126 sufficiently to overcome the aforementioned restraining force which may be imposed on any one of the links associated therewith.

Referring now to the embodiment shown in Fig. 3, the parts which are similar to those disclosed in the embodiments shown in Figs. 1 and 2 are similarly numbered with the exception, however, that the numerals are preceded by the prefix numeral 2.

In Fig. 3 a body supporting unit 218, including an integral back-rest 220 and seat 222, is mounted for rocking movement at 224 on a support generally identified by the numeral 210. A leg-rest 226 is movable to a leg supporting position in response to the rocking movement of the unit 218 through the operation of a bell-crank system 228.

The bell-crank system 228 includes a bell-crank lever 230 having an upper arm 230a and a lower arm 23Gb. The lever 230 is rockably mounted on the support 210 at 232 in response to the rocking movement of the unit 218 and of an actuator 234 which is integral therewith, and extends downwardly therefrom.

The actuator 234 and the arm 230a are in sliding engagement and when the unit 218 is rocked about its mounting 224 the actuator 234 engages the arm 230a to rock the lever 230 about its mounting 232 and at the same time to slide along the arm 230a relative thereto.

Pivoted to the lower end of the arm 23% is a controlling link 244. The controlling link 244 links the lever 230 with a front link 246 intermediate the ends thereof. The front link 246 is pivoted at its one end 248 to the support 210 and at its other end it is connected by a connecting link 250 with the leg-rest 226 at a pivotal connection 252. A second front link 254 is pivoted at its one end to the under side of the seat 222 and connected at its other end to the leg-rest 226 at 258 by a connecting link 256. The connecting link 250 is pivotally interconnected with the front link 254 intermediate their respective ends to link both the front links 246 and 254 with the leg-rest 226 at the pivotal connection 252.

The extent to which the legrest 226 may be projected to its leg supporting position and the extent to which the unit 218 may be rocked to and from its reclining position is limited by the limit means which includes the limit members 260 and 262.

In the present embodiment it will be recognized that the leg-rest 226 may be moved to and from its leg supporting position shown in dash lines independently of the rocking movement of the unit 218 about its mounting 224. It is also projectable to its leg supporting position in response to the rocking movement of the unit 218.

To project the leg-rest 226 to its leg supporting position without, however, rocking the unit 218 into its reclining position it is only necessary to grasp the leg-rest and manually pull it upwardly. By pulling it upwardly the links and connecting links which are associated with the leg-rest are caused to pivot about their various connections. A restraining means or friction means may be applied to any of the pivotal connections in order to retain the leg-rest in its supporting position.

Thus, when it is desired to remove the leg-rest from its supporting position to its inactive position, it will be necessary only to apply a force on the leg-rest sufiicient in magnitude to overcome the restraining or friction means at the pivotal connections. The applied force will cause the links and connecting links to pivot relative to each other to allow the leg-rest to be moved to its inactive position.

On the other hand, when the unit 218 is rocked into its reclining position as shown by the dash lines, the actuator 234 extending downwardly therefrom causes the lever 230 to rock about its mounting 232 to project the controlling link 244. This in turn serves to pivot both the front links 246 and 254 to move the leg-rest 222 to its leg supporting position. The extent to which the unit 218 and the leg-rest 226 will be permitted to move will depend upon the position of the limit means 262. Thus, when the lever 230 engages with the limit means 262 the unit 218 and the leg-rest 226 are stopped from further movement.

When the unit 218 is rocked to its upright or sitting position shown by the full lines, the extent of its movement is limited by the limit member 260. It will be recognized that while the unit 218 may be rocked from its reclining position into its upright position, the extended leg supporting position of the leg-rest 226 will not however, be disturbed. In order to return the leg-rest 226 from its extended position it will be necessary to apply a force of sufiicient magnitude thereto to overcome the aforementioned restraining force applied at the pivotal connections.

Referring now to Fig. 4 the parts therein which are similar to those shown in Fig. l are similarly numbered with the exception, however, that the numbers are preceded by the identifying prefix numeral 3. In Fig. 4 the body supporting unit 318, including the back-rest 320 and the integral seat 322, is rockably mounted on the support 310 at 324.

The leg-rest 326 is movable between its leg-supporting position shown in dash lines and its inactive position shown in full lines in response to the rocking movement of the unit 318 by way of the bell-crank system 328.

The bell-crank system 328 includes a bell-crank lever 330 which is rockably mounted intermediate its ends at 332 on the support 310. An upper arm 330a is pivotally connected at its one end to an actuator 334 for movement relative thereto. The actuator 334 is pivoted to and extends downwardly from the under portion of the unit 318. Hence, when the unit 318 is caused to rock about its mounting 324 the actuator 334 will rock the lever 330 by way of the pivotal connection with the lever arm 330a.

As the lever 330 rocks about its mounting 332 the arm 330a moves relative to the actuator 334. The lower arm 33% of the lever 330 is pivotally connected at its end to an end of a controlling link 344. The other end of the controlling link 344 is pivotally connected with a front link 346 intermediate the ends thereof to link the front link with the bell-crank system 328.

The front link 346 is pivoted at its upper end at 348 to the underside of the seat 322 while it is connected at its other end by a connecting link 350 to a pivotal connection 352 of the leg-rest 326. A second front link 354 is pivotally connected at its one end also to the under side of the seat 322 and linked at its other end to the pivotal connection 358 of the leg-rest 326 by way of the connecting link 356. The connector 350 and the front link 354 are pivotally interconnected intermediate their respective ends thereby to link the front link 354 with the pivotal connection 352.

Limit means, including the limit members 360 and 362, control the extent to which the unit 318 will rock between its upright and its reclining positions.

In the present embodiment it will be recognized that because the arm 330a of the bell-crank system 328 is linked by way of the actuator 334 to the unit 318 the leg-rest 326 is caused to move to and from its leg-supporting position in response to the rocking movement of the unit. The leg-rest 326 may not, therefore, be operated independently of the unit 318.

Thus, when the unit 318 is rocked from its upright (full line) position into its reclining (dash line) position, the actuator 334 pivots relative to the arm 330a and at the same time causes the lever 330 to rock about its mounting 332. The controlling link 344 which is connected with the arm 33% of the lever is extended to pivot the front link 346 about its mounting 348. In turn the other front link 354 is caused to pivot with the first mentioned front link 346 by virtue of the connecting link 350. The pivoting motion of both of the front links projects the leg-rest 326 into its leg-supporting position shown in dash lines.

The extent to which the unit 318 will rock into its reclining position is controlled by the position of the limit member 362 which provides an abutment for the arm 33% of the lever 330. On the other hand when the unit 318 is rocked from its reclining position into its upright position, the lever 330 is caused to move away from the limit member 362, by virtue of the connection between the arm 330a and the actuator 334, and as a consequence the two front links 346 and 354 are pulled downwardly from their extended positions. The extent to which the unit 318 will rock into its upright position is determined by the location of the limit member 360 which provides an engaging abutment for the under side of the seat 322.

While there have been shown and described and pointed out the fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to several preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood that various changes in the form and changes in shape of the devices illustrated and in their operations may be made by those skilled in the art, without departing from the spirit of the invention. It is the intention, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the claims appended hereto.

I claim:

1. A reclining chair comprising a body-supporting structure including a support and an integral seat and back-rest unit, a single pivot mounting said seat intermediate its ends on said support for rocking movement of said unit about said pivot, a leg-rest, a leg-rest control linkage pivotally mounted on said body supporting structure and connected to said leg-rest for moving said leg-rest between a retracted position beneath the forward end of said seat and an extended position forwardly of and substantially at the level of said seat, and drive means for actuating said leg-rest control linkage, said drive means including a bell crank lever mounted on the support and having a short arm and a long arm, means connecting said long arm to said leg-rest control linkage, and means engaging said short arm with the rear portion of .the seat rearwardly of said pivot, said seat rear portion moving downwardly upon rearward rocking movement of said seat and back-rest unit and moving said short arm in a direction to move the long arm forwardly, whereby a short rearward rocking movement of said seat and back-rest unit is translated into relatively long movement of said leg-rest to its extended position.

2. A reclining chair comprising a body supporting structure including a support and an integral seat and back-rest unit, a single pivot mounting said seat and backrest on said support at a point on the seat forwardly of the back-rest for rocking movement of said unit about said pivot, a leg-rest, a leg-rest control linkage including a first pair of links pivotally connected to spaced points on said leg-rest, a second pair of links pivotally mounted on said body supporting structure, said leg-rest control linkage being operative to move said leg-rest between a retracted position beneath the forward end of said seat and an extended position forwardly of and substantially at the level of said seat, and drive means for actuating said leg-rest control linkage, said drive means including a bell crank lever mounted intermediate its ends on the support and having a horizontally extending said long arm to said leg-rest control linkage, and means engaging said short arm with the rear portion of the seat rearwardly of said pivot, said seat rear portion moving downwardly upon rearward rocking movement of said unit about said pivot and depressing a portion of said drive means to move the long arm of said bell crank lever forwardly, whereby a short rearward rocking movement of said seat and back-rest unit is translated into relatively long movement of said leg-rest to its extended position.

3. A reclining chair comprising a body supporting structure including a support and an integral seat and back-rest unit, a single pivot mounting said seat at a central portion thereof on said support for rocking movement of said unit about said pivot, a leg-rest, a leg-rest control linkage including a first pair of links pivotally connected to spaced points on said leg-rest, a second pair of links pivotally connected to the respective links of the first pair and pivotally mounted on said body supporting structure, said leg-rest control linkage being operative to move said leg-rest between a retracted position beneath the forward end of said seat and an extended position forwardly of and substantially at the level of said seat, and drive means for actuating said leg-rest control linkage, said drive means including a bell crank lever pivotally mounted on said support and having a horizontallyextending short arm and a depending long arm, and a link connecting said long arm to said leg-rest control linkage, the portion of said seat rearwardly of said pivot means being positioned to depress a portion of said drive means when said seat portion is lowered by rearward rocking movement of said seat and back-rest unit for turning the short arm of the bell crank from its horizontal position in a direction to move the long arm forwardly, whereby a short rearward rocking movement of said seat and back-rest unit is translated into relatively long movement of said leg-rest to its extended position.

4. A reclining chair according to claim 3 in which said drive means includes a second bell crank lever pivotally mounted on the support, one arm of said second bell crank lever being connected to the short arm of the first bell crank lever, the other arm of said second bell crank lever constituting the portion of the drive means depressed by said rear seat portion.

5. A reclining chair according to claim 4 in which the connection between said bell crank levers is a slidable lost motion connection.

6. A reclining chair comprising a body supporting structure including a support and an integral seat and back-rest unit, a single pivot mounting said seat at a central portion thereof on the support for rocking movement of said unit about said pivot between an upright and a rearwardly-tilted position, a leg-rest, a leg-rest control linkage including a first pair of links pivotally connected to spaced points on said leg-rest, a second pair of links pivotally connected to the respective links of the first pair and pivotally mounted on said body supporting structure, said leg-rest control linkage being operative to move said leg-rest between a retracted position beneath the forward end of said seat and an extended position forwardly of and substantially at the level of said seat, and drive means for actuating said leg-rest control linkage, said drive means including a bell crank lever mounted intermediate its ends on the support and having a horizontally-extending short arm and a depending long arm, a link connecting said long arm to said leg-rest control linkage, and a depending extension on the rear portion of the seat rearwardly of said pivot in engagement with the short arm of said bell crank lever, said extension being positioned to depress said short arm when said seat and back rest unit is rocked rearwardly to lower the rear portion of the seat, whereby a short rearward rocking movement of said seat and back-rest unit is translated into relatively long movement of said legrest to its extended position.

7. A reclining chair according to claim 6 in which said seat extension is disconnected from said bell crank lever short arm to permit the leg-rest to be manually brought to its extended position while the seat and backrest unit is in its upright position.

8. A reclining chair according to claim 6 in which said seat extension is pivoted to said seat and to the short arm of the bell crank lever.

9. A reclining chair comprising a body supporting structure including a support and an integral seat and back-rest unit, a single pivot mounting said seat and backrest on said support at a point on the seat forwardly of the back-rest for rocking movement of said unit about said pivot, a leg-rest, a leg-rest control linkage including a first pair of links pivotally connected to spaced points on said leg-rest, a second pair of links pivotally connected to the respective links of the first pair and pivotally mounted on said support, said leg-rest control linkage being operative to move said leg-rest between a retracted position beneath the forward end of said seat and an extended position forwardly of and substantially at the level of said seat, and drive means for actuating said leg-rest control linkage, said drive means including a bell crank lever mounted intermediate its ends on the support and having a horizontally-extending short arm and a depending long arm, a link connecting said long arm to said leg-rest control linkage, and a back-rest extension on the seat rearwardly of said pivot, said back-rest extension resting upon the short arm of said bell crank lever and being positioned to depress said short arm when the seat and back-rest unit is rocked rearwardly about said pivot to lower the rear portion of the seat, whereby a short rearward rocking movement of said seat and back-rest unit is translated into relatively long movement of said leg-rest to its extended position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

